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Blank says there will not be a plaque honoring natives on Lincoln statueASM Chair Katrina Morrison — whose organization passed legislation last October to recognize Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day — supports putting a plaque on the statue. Morrison said that while it is important to “acknowledge Lincoln’s role in creating land-grant institutions,” the university should still recognize “his brutality towards indigenous peoples.”

“We wanted a plaque near Lincoln because we wanted the university to recognize his part in the Dakota 38 massacre,” Morrison said. “I think that [not putting a plaque on the statue] is a mistake, and I think that the history is irrefutable. It is clear that he played a huge role in the massacre and was killing innocent people for no reason.”

Mariah Skenandore, a co-president of the indigenous student organization Wunk Sheek, disagrees with Blank’s interpretation of Lincoln’s history. Skenandore said UW-Madison’s refusal to put a plaque on the statue represents their continued oppression of marginalized students.

“They don’t acknowledge the impact that it is having on their students, and I’m impacted by [seeing Lincoln on Bascom Hill] every day,” Skenandore said. “I think the plaque is the least the university can do.”

Halifax music fest apologizes for ‘overt racism’ at Lido Pimienta concertThe Halifax Pop Explosion music festival is apologizing for the actions of a volunteer who interrupted a performance by Polaris Prize-winning singer Lido Pimienta with "overt racism."

A statement on behalf of the festival's board of directors addresses the singer directly and promises to make changes to improve "anti-oppression and anti-racism training" over the next year.

"We are sorry that one of our volunteers interrupted your art, your show, and your audience by being aggressive and racist," reads a Facebook post signed by vice-chairman Georgie Dudka.

The Halifax festival says the incident involved a white volunteer photographer and several white audience members who reacted negatively when Pimienta invited "brown girls to the front" during her Oct. 19 show.

The outspoken singer, who took home the Polaris Prize for her album "La Papessa" last month, frequently asks her audience to welcome people of colour to the front of the stage. In turn, she requests that white people move back.

While Dudka doesn't offer much detail in his post, festival spokesman Trevor Murphy confirmed Allie O'Manique's account of what transpired.

O'Manique says the problems started when the volunteer female photographer refused to step away from her spot near the front. It led to a clash with nearby audience members who became angered over her insistence on remaining near the stage to take photos, says O'Manique, who performs as dream-pop act Trails and shares management with Pimienta.

"She just kept saying, 'Move to the back,"' says O'Manique.

"Finally after saying it about 10 times — and the woman refused to move — (Pimienta) said, 'You're cutting into my set time and you're disrespecting these women, and I don't have time for this."'

Event organizers say the volunteer was removed from the show and ultimately chose to sever ties with the festival.

Pimienta's management did not respond to requests for comment.

Julia-Simone Rutgers, one of the Halifax women invited by Pimienta to shift closer to the stage, says she was surprised by the photographer's refusal to move.

"There's a certain understanding that if an artist asks a crowd to do something ... the artist is in charge in that space," she says.

The clash was emblematic of the opinion that prioritizing people of colour — particularly women — is "reverse racist," says Rutgers.

"It's those mindsets that create that sort of pushback at the shows," she says.

"I don't know if I would say it can be attributed to the crowd Pop Explosion gets, or more so just the sort of people that exist in Halifax and the mindsets that prevail here."

The four-day music bash, which wrapped Oct. 21, is usually considered a diverse affair with performances by more than 150 artists, comedians and speakers.

Pimienta's show had its share of audience tensions, says O'Manique, who highlighted two instances that happened near her in the audience.

"There was a man standing behind me, an older man, who was referring to Lido as a racist because she was dividing the crowd," she says.

"I also saw two women fighting closer to me, yelling in each other's faces and giving each other the finger."

In closing their statement, Halifax Pop Explosion organizers specifically addressed people of colour.

"We are going to try our best as a festival to create ways to make our spaces safer and more accessible for you. We hope we can rebuild some trust and that you will come back to our shows."

Little girls should not dress up as Moana this Halloween because it is 'RACIST cultural appropriation' or Elsa from Frozen because it promotes 'white beauty', activists warn

Writing in her popular blog Raising Race Conscious Children, parent blogger activist Sachi Feris urged parents not to dress their children up as characters from backgrounds different to their own as it is 'cultural appropriation.'
....
Describing her own discussions with her five-year-old daughter, Feris said: 'Moana is based on real history and a real group of people.

'If we are going to dress up a real person, we have to make sure we are doing it in a way that is respectful. Otherwise, it is like we are making fun of someone else's culture.'
The parent, from Brooklyn, New York, revealed that after her discussion about 'cultural appropriation' with her daughter, the young girl decided to go as Mickey Mouse instead.
....
The blogger also took aim at Disney's Frozen character Elsa, another of her daughter's Halloween picks, adding: 'I feel like because Elsa is a White princess, and we see so many White princesses, her character sends the message that you have to be a certain way to be "beautiful"'.

His new student ID says ‘Lightning-Kachow-McQ.’ That hurts trans students, some sayRoope, a student at UCLA, tweeted that he changed the name on his student ID to “Lightning-Kachow-McQ.”

He was able to do that because of a new policy at the school, which allows students to put their preferred name on the front of their BruinCards, according to the Daily Bruin.

“The boundaries had to be tested and I can't believe this actually worked,” he tweeted out with a picture of his old and updated ID cards, as well as an email notifying him about the change. “My professors now legally have to call me this.”
....
Arielle Yael Mokhtarzadeh, president of UCLA’s Undergraduate Student Association Council, told the Daily Bruin that the disconnect between one’s preferred name and legal name “is an issue faced by many transgender and international students on campus.”

And that’s why many took to Twitter to call out Roope, arguing that his quirky name change is far from funny — and instead hurts transgender students.

His new student ID says ‘Lightning-Kachow-McQ.’ That hurts trans students, some sayRoope, a student at UCLA, tweeted that he changed the name on his student ID to “Lightning-Kachow-McQ.”

He was able to do that because of a new policy at the school, which allows students to put their preferred name on the front of their BruinCards, according to the Daily Bruin.

“The boundaries had to be tested and I can't believe this actually worked,” he tweeted out with a picture of his old and updated ID cards, as well as an email notifying him about the change. “My professors now legally have to call me this.”
....
Arielle Yael Mokhtarzadeh, president of UCLA’s Undergraduate Student Association Council, told the Daily Bruin that the disconnect between one’s preferred name and legal name “is an issue faced by many transgender and international students on campus.”

And that’s why many took to Twitter to call out Roope, arguing that his quirky name change is far from funny — and instead hurts transgender students.

It is kind of funny, but ...

“The boundaries had to be tested and I can't believe this actually worked,”

Did they?

"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."

Councillor to stop using word 'marijuana,' says term has racist connotationsA Halifax councillor says he will no longer use the term "marijuana" because it is racist, sparking a social media debate over the well-used synonym for cannabis.

Coun. Shawn Cleary said a police officer he works with on a cannabis legalization task force recently brought it to his attention that the term has a racist history.
....
He said after doing some of his own research on the term's origins, he decided to stop using it, saying earlier this week on Twitter: "Let's do what we can to not perpetuate racism."

"We need to actually have conversations, have dialogue, and talk about these things. By doing that we're actually increasing the amount of understanding and interest in history," said Cleary in an interview Thursday.

Councillor to stop using word 'marijuana,' says term has racist connotationsA Halifax councillor says he will no longer use the term "marijuana" because it is racist, sparking a social media debate over the well-used synonym for cannabis.

Coun. Shawn Cleary said a police officer he works with on a cannabis legalization task force recently brought it to his attention that the term has a racist history.
....
He said after doing some of his own research on the term's origins, he decided to stop using it, saying earlier this week on Twitter: "Let's do what we can to not perpetuate racism."

"We need to actually have conversations, have dialogue, and talk about these things. By doing that we're actually increasing the amount of understanding and interest in history," said Cleary in an interview Thursday.

Except that is historically accurate, and "marijuana" was instrumentally popularized as a name for cannabis in the US, almost a century ago, to associate the plant/drug with Mexicans and thus laziness and unsavoriness.

"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."

The political organization, which routinely makes grand statements about inclusion, recently sent an email to its employees looking to recruit people for eight open spots including IT Systems Administrator, Product Manager and Chief Security Officer.

Though the Oct. 30 email says that the DNC is looking for a “staff of diverse voices and life experiences,” it apparently doesn’t mean white men.

DNC’s Data Service Manager Madeleine Leader purportedly wrote in an email that the desire for diversity excludes “cisgender straight white males.”

Leader adds, “I personally would prefer that you not forward to cisgender straight white males, as they are already in the majority.”